episode_0118

“Kaaah!”

His Majesty’s screams of agony filled the infirmary.

The royal physician, smoking a cigarette, seemed oblivious to His Majesty’s screams.

It was possible because he was also one of those who rolled around on the battlefield.

“Your Majesty, I haven’t touched you yet.”

The doctor clicked his tongue as he watched His Majesty shouting and joking.

First of all, Her Highness the Empress did not suffer any major injuries and the baby in her womb was safe, so such a prank would be possible.

For now, all I had to do was rest and wait for my wounds to heal. I wanted to leave all the headaches behind.

“Your Majesty, please follow the example of the former Count Raoul Bergé, who is standing still over there.”

“I might end up following the example of the former count.”

“I will mix cyanide and arsenic into the medicine that Peha is taking.”

“… Colorful disloyal traitorous bastards.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t have any pain either, but I just didn’t feel the need to make a fuss.

Crying, screaming, and causing a ruckus won’t help the wound get better; it’ll just make it worse.

“Well… I didn’t say anything because it seemed like I was making a fuss, but there’s something that hurts a little.”

“You seem to be fine since you are speaking normally… Are there any scratches or scrapes? First, disinfect it…”

“It looks like the intestines in my abdomen are slightly protruding.”

“You crazy bastard, why are you saying that now and making a fuss!!!!!!!!!!!!”

After the first aid was completed and I was touching the bandage that was tightening the abdomen, His Majesty tapped me on the shoulder.

“By the way, if you think about it… Raoul. Aren’t you the rightful owner of this vast land?”

“… If it’s a boring joke, just shove it in that wound.”

“I mean, I’m leaving the use of this land up to you.”

“It doesn’t really matter.”

Suddenly, I thought a little about how the previous count would have used this vast land. Of course, it wasn’t what he actually said, and it’s just my personal interpretation…

“…. Education.”

“Education?”

“It would be nice to make it a large learning center.”

“The Minister of Finance will probably be like, “Do you have money for something like that?” There’s no way that stubborn old man would leave that money-eating hippopotamus alone.”

To build something like the Imperial Academy you see in novels would require astronomical amounts of money.

The Minister of Finance must have thought that an empire that had just finished a war could not afford to spend such an amount of money on something like education.

It is indeed a reasonable and justified opinion. That stubborn old man is a wallflower who is even more inflexible than I am.

He was an old man who was only good at calculating money and kept swearing at Seonje, and lost an eye. He was hired after Camilla’s brother died, but…

We all didn’t like that stuffy old man very much. He was just a frugal old man.

“…… Actually, there is a treasure that the Seonje kid secretly hid. He was originally saving it to make something else. ”

“What on earth were you trying to make that you’ve kept it so secret until now…?”

“A five-story toilet that discharges feces over the corpses of the first and second princes. If not, they were trying to make a zoo.”

“I think you could give the Minister of Finance both the Academy and the two choices. He would choose the Academy with tears in his eyes.”

“Are these tears of emotion?”

“These are probably the tears of someone who realized that he has no luck at all.”

“That sounds pretty sweet. I want to lick it.”

His Majesty burst into laughter, and I also raised the corners of my mouth slightly. His Majesty and I had this kind of relationship.

It was a relationship where we exchanged useless, pointless jokes. For some reason, this relationship where we exchanged meaningless conversations felt valuable.

“If you build an academy, then yes, Raul Academy…”

“Your Majesty. I have the power to assassinate you. Please do not add any more justification to assassinate you.”

“Anyway, a bunch of disloyal traitorous bastards.”

The name of the Academy… It’s funny that I’m already thinking of a name when I haven’t even dug a shovel of dirt yet.

Aren’t there parents who worry about their child’s name even before they get pregnant? It might not be a bad idea to make a rough plan before the actual planning gets into gear.

“If you give it a name, it would be St. Leila Academy…”

And at that moment, a crow’s beak flew in from somewhere and struck my temple precisely.

“Tch…!”

“Is that crow your pet? It really loves its owner.”

“It’s true that it’s a pet, but…”

“…. Who in the world keeps a crow as a pet? You crazy bastard.”

I don’t know how I got here, but it didn’t matter one bit.

Because I’m not the type of person who cares deeply about the intricacies of small events.

He was the type of person who would just think, “If it just flew in, then it just flew in.”

“By the way, it’s going to be really funny since it’s St. Leila’s Academy. If Leila had heard about it, she would’ve jumped up and told me not to be a jerk… But since she’s not here, it’s just sad.”

His Majesty had a somewhat sad expression on his face.

“I want to see Leila causing trouble by naming it the Goddess of Beauty Saint Leila Academy.”

Then the crow flew to His Majesty and pecked His Majesty’s eye.

“Kuaaah!!!! That evil crow turned out to be Leila’s subordinate! That damn crow! Call Dr. Raoul! His eyes are GAAAAH! ”

“Ugh…”

I almost let out a strange sound without realizing it.

This is not good. I will just have to die without any warmth, emotion, or regret.

It seems like there are so many things trying to change me these days.

Numerous changes in my environment were trying to make me happy.

Lizel came closer to me again, calling me “oppa.”

My mother apologized to me and tried to repair our relationship.

Things that I had previously given up on came to me like that.

“It won’t work… Really…”

I really felt like I didn’t want to die.

I didn’t want to die. I wanted to live more. I wanted to live more and be happier. I felt like I was going to struggle ugly and meaningless.

“Fuck…”

“Raoul! You crazy bastard, stop messing with the mood and call a doctor!!!!”

“I don’t want to die ugly…”

“Now you’re trying to pierce my eardrums! Do something about this, you little shit!!!!!!”

I just looked at the distant mountains and pictured in my mind the ugly struggles I would have to endure.

It looked really ugly and stupid.

I don’t want to die like that.

If this happiness continued, it was obvious that I would die like that.

But that doesn’t mean I want to cut off the happiness that has come to me now.

I was truly a contradictory person.

You don’t want to accept the results of happiness, but you also don’t want to cut off the path to it.

It was really incredibly stupid.

“Kaaaah! The wound is opening!!!”

“… How selfish.”

“Yeah, you selfish little shit! I’m telling you to hold on to your new brain!!!”

What on earth should I do?

How on earth can we resolve this contradiction?

This body is still sick.

“Raul.”

“Your Highness?”

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Yes, she was slightly hurt, but… I’m more worried about Her Highness the Empress’s health.”

“Don’t worry, my child and I are both fine. You should be the one worrying. You survived miraculously. You always overwork yourself like this…”

“… I tried to be careful, but I couldn’t control the boiling blood.”

I didn’t know how to cool my boiling blood when my people were attacked. No, I didn’t want to know.

“Empress! Raoul! This crow is tearing open my wounds! Save me! Kwaaak!!!”

“Raul. Still, thank you. Thanks to you fighting with me, I was able to end it with this much damage.”

“Thank you for your compliments. I will never put down my weapon while Her Majesty the Empress is holding it.”

“Haha, now that I know how to say that, my frustration has really grown.”

Her Highness the Empress teased me by pinching my cheek.

For some reason, that touch didn’t feel burdensome at all. No, rather… it felt a little warm.

“Blood spurting from the wound…!”

“… It really doesn’t change. But that makes me feel good.”

“Sometimes stability is better than progress.”

“Yeah. Sometimes that’s how it is. Like when you and Leila were eating with that damn military officer… no, Master. If not…”

While they were having such pleasant conversations with Her Highness the Empress, Camilla, who had just finished receiving treatment elsewhere, came in through the rough door of the barracks.

“What interesting story are you talking about with me?”

“… I was just telling you the story of when you peed your pants during training.”

“Okay, let’s just kill everyone here?”

“Jim is already dying…”

Camilla too joined the story and began to dig up memories buried in the sands of time.

It was fun. Those little memories of the past were so much fun.

And as the story was getting underway, Camilla suddenly grabbed my wrist.

“That’s it for the past story. Follow me. I have something to tell you. Do you get the general idea?”

“Didn’t we decide to tell that story after the hunting festival?”

“Do you think there’s a creature stronger than that king, other than the Demon King? We’re number one this hunting festival.”

“That’s true too.”

Then Her Majesty the Empress looked at us with eyes full of expectation.

“Haha… It looks like you’re finally getting your courage up. You’re usually so brave, but at times like this, you’re just a girl. Isn’t that right, Your Majesty?”

“…….”

Since His Majesty did not offer any objections, it seemed that he was expressing his agreement through silence.